McCarthy, the model and TV personality who moonlights as the anti-vaccine movement's most influential (read: dangerous) voice, sells plenty of books, speaks passionately about parenting and cracks off-color jokes. She also peddles the discredited, poisonous claims that the way we vaccinate our children against the diseases that were once regular killers of children places our young ones at greater risk of developing autism -- the kind of conspiracy theorizing that will draw only more eyeballs.

So the suits at ABC who cynically hired McCarthy, who promises to "make hot topics a little bit hotter," can at least be given credit for keeping an eye on their bottom line.

But here's where ABC strays into dangerous territory: As I've written before, McCarthy's target audience is new parents, those vulnerable, hyper-protective types who hit the ground running caring for their helpless children with little else to guide them besides instinct and advice from people who have been there. I say this because I'm just emerging from "new parent" status as the father of twin toddlers, and I can tell you those first few months of parenthood are filled with decisions (like, for example, whether to vaccinate your babies) to be made with your own sleep-deprived, primal mind.

These are the people McCarthy and ABC are after: Easy targets.

So those mothers and fathers at home in the morning caring for their newborns, desperate for someone to tell them what to do, should be more trusting of the advice given by their pediatricians modestly displaying medical degrees and licenses behind their desks rather than a brash TV personality who once bragged she earned her credentials at the "University of Google."

A man travels to Indonesia and contracts the measles. He then visits a church in Texas, sickening 21 people — at least so far. Who should feel responsible? The unvaccinated man who contracted the disease or the ministers at the church who’ve questioned the practice of vaccination...

Fewer parents are vaccinating their children, but still sending them off to school, warns physician and professor Nina Shapiro in our Opinion pages. In it, she argues for "unvaccinated-free zones" to protect all children from disease.

A heads up to parents: Allowing your children to walk home from the park alone can trigger an investigation by Child Protective Services, a finding of neglect and an open file on your family for at least five years.

Voters in Los Angeles head to the polls Tuesday to answer a crucial question for local democracy: Should the city and the Los Angeles Unified School District, in an effort to increase voter participation, move their elections from March and May of odd-numbered years to June and November of...

On Sunday, L.A. police shot and killed an unarmed but belligerent homeless man on San Pedro Street in skid row. As in other recent cases in which police around the country have killed unarmed suspects, it is not entirely clear what actually happened — or what might have happened had the...